Conservation of epigenetic regulation by the MLL3/4 tumour suppressor in planarian pluripotent stem cells

Mihaylova, Y., Abnave, P., Kao, D., Hughes, S., Lai, A., Jaber-Hijazi, F. , Kosaka, N. and Aboobaker, A. A. (2018) Conservation of epigenetic regulation by the MLL3/4 tumour suppressor in planarian pluripotent stem cells. Nature Communications, 9, 3633. (doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-06092-6) (PMID:30194301) (PMCID:PMC6128892)

Abstract

Currently, little is known about the evolution of epigenetic regulation in animal stem cells. Here we demonstrate, using the planarian stem cell system to investigate the role of the COMPASS family of MLL3/4 histone methyltransferases that their function as tumor suppressors in mammalian stem cells is conserved over a long evolutionary distance. To investigate the potential conservation of a genome-wide epigenetic regulatory program in animal stem cells, we assess the effects of Mll3/4 loss of function by performing RNA-seq and ChIP-seq on the G2/M planarian stem cell population, part of which contributes to the formation of outgrowths. We find many oncogenes and tumor suppressors among the affected genes that are likely candidates for mediating MLL3/4 tumor suppression function. Our work demonstrates conservation of an important epigenetic regulatory program in animals and highlights the utility of the planarian model system for studying epigenetic regulation.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was funded by grants from the Medical Research Council (grant number MR/M000133/1) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (grant number BB/K007564/1) to A.A.A.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Jaber, Dr Farah
• Authors: Mihaylova, Y., Abnave, P., Kao, D., Hughes, S., Lai, A., Jaber-Hijazi, F., Kosaka, N., and Aboobaker, A. A.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Cancer Sciences
• Journal Name: Nature Communications
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2041-1723
• ISSN (Online): 2041-1723
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Nature Communications 9: 3633
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License